Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tucker's Post


Hi everybody it’s me tucker and I’m writing my very first blog post ever. So I hope u like it a lot. Having cancer really sucks because you have to get poked a lot, you go to the hospital a lot and there’s nothing to do up there. So I hope you don’t go through this. But I’m still having a really fun time at school.
Even though I hate it so much there’s still some good things about having cancer. Like i get a lot of time to hang out with my mom, toys, money, visitors, games and I get to meet a lot of new people like scot my nurse. I tease him about being a bad nurse but he is actually a really good and cool nurse. And I meet nurses up at the hospital a lot. And my favorite nurse is Irish.
I hope u keep reading this blog cause I’m going to keep writing.
Love,
Tucker.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Headbands

Email from Jealin Dickamore (Amber's Sister in law):
This is my niece Lexi. When she heard about Tucker she was so upset and wanted to do something to help. She crocheted headbands and sold them door to door and in the schools in Tremonton. She crocheted and sold over 40 of them all by herself. She is the same age as Tucker. After she met Tucker she said (exact words) "Aunt Linny, Tucker is AWESOME." She even said that they were going to invite each other to their next Birthday parties. Here are some pics of them together (She is the one with braces) Also a pic of what the headbands looked like.
Super Cute Headbands handmade by Lexi


Wednesday, August 24, 2011

1 pill, 2 pill.... red pill, blue pill...

One pill, 2 pill..
red pill... blue pill
long pill, short pill
its just our normal drill
*** This is a video i took of Tucker on his Wednesday night pills**** its self explanatory.... its AMAZING that he doesn't throw a fit... or just say NO MOM, NO MORE...
but as of yesterday we just added 2 more pills to this- and his morning pills is about 5... so watch this video and add 7 more...
Love you all..
2 posts in 1 day! Ya for me!

Maintenance, not just for cars…

Refrigerators need maintenance
Washers & dryers need maintenance
Things like, computers- phones- and Xbox’s need maintenance
Also….. boys pants need maintenance, my hair needs constant maintenance…. Oh and Justin -FYI the ice maker on the fridge is over due by 2 years for maintenance… HINT HINT- NUDGE NUDGE *pointing over to the fridge* Honey, its right there… it would sure be nice to get ice out of the amazing ice maker-thingy that makes the ice… I’m just saying, it’s a perfect opportunity for maintenance…
Oh and that reminds me MARRIAGES need maintenance- (HA!) But they would need considerably less maintenance if the ice maker on the fridge worked…
To all you husbands out there that are reading this thinking “yes, I do need maintenance on my marriage.” Have you check to make sure your icemaker on the fridge is working? You never know… that could be it. (Justin, I’m teasing- I love you.. I’m kidding about the marriage maintenance, but not about the ice maker… hey, our anniversary is coming up & that would be a wonderful present…ice, from the ice maker...amazing concept I know.).
What is maintenance, really?
Mom’s definition: What you need to do to maintain an item or thing to keep it going, or up and running & in good condition- in a way the ultimate definition of “maintenance” can be summed up by gray hairs on your head- not my head- but lets just say if I did have gray hairs-I don’t- but if I did then I would need to maintain my hair, keep it colored every other day just to be sure that no pesky gray hairs will show though, so I’m maintain my hair-a lot- if in fact I had gray…the point is the constant work at keeping the world fooled into thinking I, eerr… I mean-you don’t have gray hair.
Childhood Cancer “maintenance”- does this apply as a oxymoron? Possibly- anyways Tucker has officially started into his “maintenance” schedule- what does this mean? Well, it means we drop into a different, less “mean” type of chemo - we “maintain” chemo in his body but not at the dangerous high does he was at previously. We will be on maintenance unit we are done done done with this whole ordeal in 2013. Our schedule is set- we do 6 weeks of home chemo, 4 weeks of IV chemo at the hospital, then repeat- 6 weeks home, 4 weeks hospital- ect ect ect. The major radiation that we did let us jump right into the maintenance phase of the chemo course, its like rolling the dice and landing on the “ladder” if we were playing Chutes & Ladders- we just took the “ladder” to the maintenance for Tucker- and what everybody needs to keep praying for is that we don’t land on a “chutes” & have to start over- or back any spaces, this is not a game we want to lose.

We have had a fun past couple weeks. Tucker started SCHOOL! YA!!! He started 5th grade at possibly the BEST SCHOOL EVER! Quest Academy in West Haven, UT. Tucker is so far, doing great. He is completely bald and as of yet there is no sign of growth sprouting… but the kids in his class thinks he is cool, and I love his bald head.
Anyways, we also had the opportunity to take the family and go camping before school with our good friends Tom & Mary. Their son, Braxton was in Tucker’s class last year and got to move into the same class with Tucker this year. We went up to Tony’s Grove and it was BEAUTIFUL- I’ve never been there before this and I highly recommend it to everybody. Wow, it was beautiful. Tucker did great, but lets be honest, the amount of morphine he is on would make ANYbody do “great”… LOL. He was so proud of himself, he walked around the camp multiple times without having to rest. When I got up to the camp he came running up to me and said “MOM! You & my doctor are going to be so PROUD of me! I have gone on 3 walks AND I dint have to rest AND my legs don’t hurt that bad!”. Of course the next day he slept for a few more hours, but a milestone is a milestone-
We have had to do one blood transfusion in the past 2 weeks, but other than that things seem to be going smooth. I’m amazed at Tucker everyday. I could not ask for a better child. Tucker has his last radiation appointment on Monday and it was the LAST appointment. It was the sign-off, we are done with you, don’t come back- type of deal- thank GOODNESS- I really (really really) hated radiation, we all did.
I can’t believe we did radiation and I also can’t believe its over- I don’t hardly even remember July- man, time is a funny thing.

Love to all

Amber, Justin & Tucker-man
Amber & Tucker August 10

Tori & Tucker: August 10

Getting CT scan on August 10

Getting more blood, August 10 (sorry blogger flipped the picture)

Tucker & Braxton eating pizza at Bear Lake

Justin & Amber playing cards while camping


Tucker and Raven

Tucker and Raven

5th grade, baby!

August 15, 2011 1st day of school

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

You Know You’re the Parent of a Kid with Cancer When….

A while back years ago with Tucker’s first round of cancer I received this list called “You Know You’re the Parent of a Kid with Cancer When…1-100”
When I read this list I laughed like I’ve never laughed before- I had tears streaming down my face, the next day my stomach felt like I had done 1000 sit ups! I could relate to every single one of these little statements.
I’m going to share my personal favorites on this list with you, and I also know that a few cancer moms are probably reading this- my hope is that you get that huge uncontrollable belly laugh from this list, not all 100 of them but here are just a few favorite chuckles…

2. Kids with hair look kind of strange to you
3. You can sleep anywhere, and anything that reclines more than 15 degrees looks “comfy”
6. You enjoy the drive at 3:00am to the ER because there aren’t any other cars on the freeway
12. You can maneuver a double iv pole with six boxes/bags and a kid riding, on a tour of the hospital, and make it back to the room before the low-battery alarm sounds and the kid has to pee. (I’m a PRO!)
14. The nurses stop responding to the IV alarm, knowing you’ll fix it anyway
16. Your 2-year-old knows where all of the medical equipment goes, and how to use it.
17. Your child’s first word is a medical term.
18. You keep a bag packed at all times like your 9 ½ months pregnant!
19. You can eat with one hand while you hold the barf bucket with the other.
23. You can read the doctors prescription word for word, and are asked to decipher it by the pharmacist.
25. There are 4 new Mercedes in the doctors’ parking lot due to your child’s payments
30. You have more meds in your cupboard than food
31. You can read your son’s chart better than his nurse
36. Medical students ask to borrow your notes
44. Your child uses Lego’s to build “MRI” machines
47. (love this one) You know you are the friend of a family with a child with cancer when you call to check the chemo schedule and ask, “How will the counts be on the 11th?” before you schedule a birthday party.
49. Your 4year old’s critique of the medical student’s examination skills is the same as the supervising physician’s.
52. You really think this list is funny, when most normal people either don’t get it or start to cry!
57. When the siblings want to know what the child’s counts are to see if they can go inside to eat at McDonald’s
62. You can reset the IV machines overnight, in your sleep, every 30 minutes without waking up once and still call it a good nights sleep!
66. When your kid asks for a Happy Meal you don’t say, “Wait unit we get home to eat.” Rather, “Really?!” (unless of course your kid is on prednisone-steroids-then you say, “A Happy Meal or a Super-Sized Value Meal?”)
71. You make Jell-O with Pedialite
73. Your kid has received enough get-well cards to fuel a small bon-fire.
74. Your child receives soooo many toys while in the hospital that at Christmas time you can now open your own toy store.
75. When you are thankful for steroids because there will not be turkey leftovers after the Thanksgiving meal.
76. Every little thing can make you cry in a heartbeat, but this list, on the other hand, has you rolling on the floor!

Ok, I’ll stop there…. There are so many funny ones. Please go to this site to see them all, the site is called The Never-Ending Squirrel Tale www.squirreltales.com and they have this full list, plus You Know You’re the Babysitter of a Kid with Cancer, and You Know Your’re a Teenager With Cancer.

Tucker has been doing ok.. We are officially on a 4 week break….. my definition of a BREAK and the doctors definition of a BREAK are VERY different. When I think “break” I think, no pills, no doctors, no pills,…. No pills…. (did I say no pills already?) And going somewhere where there is hula music and a sweet tropical drink. The doctors definition of a “break” is for us to not have to physically DRIVE to the hospital for 4 weeks. They said “here I’ll send this chemo home to you in a pill form and we won’t need to see you for 4 weeks, so take a “break”. So your telling me that we are going to double Tucker’s pills just so we don’t have to drive to SLC for 4 weeks?
But in my head I was thinking… Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, not driving in that horrible traffic, not having to battling out my road rage with Mr. Psycho in a huge truck with a nasty look on his face daily……and saving $ on gas!
Ok, DEAL- we’ll take the “break”.
So Tucker takes 2 more pills each day and then 12 more pills on Wednesday’s, that’s his methotraxite (the other 2 are 6MP). *sigh* but a break is a break.

I got a thing to add to the You Know You’re a Parent of a Kid with Cancer when..
*Amber list*
1) The pharmacist at Walgreen’s refuses to fill your prescription because he has to double check with the Doc first because he has “worked as a pharmacist for 20 years and has never filled this high of a dose before”…. (The dose was correct and we got our pills).
2) Thinks it’s a good day when my son can get away with only 1 morphine.
3) Lego’s are being stored in puke-buckets.
4) Didn’t actually have a puke-bucket handy when my child had to puke the other day in my car (but now have 5 buckets in the car just so that never happens again).
5) Got the fright of my life when I turn out all the house lights the other night and turned around and there was my ghost white bald headed kid standing in the shadows waiting for me to tuck him into bed…. (I jumped a mile!).
6) Have a multitude of “back up meds” in my purse “just in case”- ranging from nausea, to pain, to constipation.
7) Me wearing makeup is cause for a celebration.
8) When you’re asked to be used as “training” for the student nurses.
9) Not much can surprise you anymore except that American Idol is still popular.
10) Your child had a blast going to radiation on his birthday.
11) Your child is stumped at the meaning of some school spelling words but can tell you exactly (and spell) what… Methotrexate,ARAC, Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Patikia.. ect,
12) Your child can’t seem to ever find his socks or books, but can find the perfect vein for blood draws.

Keep the suggestions coming and I will keep adding them!
*Other cancer Mom’s List's…

Wendy Burr: You know you're a cancer mom when you go into work to talk to your boss, dig around in your purse to find something, and out falls heavy duty surgical mask. =)

Yvonne Davis: You teach your home health nurse how to figure out the ANC

Love to all,
Amber, Justin…. And my lovable cancer-kid Tucker

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Can You Help Us Take a Break?

This is going to be a very quick fast post & I apologies for that but we just found out yesterday that Tucker gets a 4 week break! He still gets chemo (in the form of pills) at home but as far as going up to the Oncology clinic we are on a BREAK! YIPPEE!!
We really just found this out on Monday- I’ve had no time to plan/prepare for anything fun. I feel like my whole family needs a big BREAK!
So, this is where you come in- we have Justin’s 3 kids for the next 2 weeks and Tucker being on his break and all- we want to go on a family camping trip!
What I need from all you people is this-
Does anybody at all have a cabin in northern Utah (far enough away to get out of here, and close enough that we can drive to) that we could use for a weekend?
My family needs to get OUT so bad and away from TV and away from Xbox and away from all the hospitals, doctors, nurses… blood tests… ect ect…, and just relax somewhere…. Somewhere with coconut oil and hula dancers with a pina colada in my hand………..OH wait, wrong fantasy… *sigh* one day maybe…
But as for now… a cabin? Anybody? Tucker would not hold up well in a tent and I know tons of people out there know a family who has a cabin who may not be using it this weekend or next weekend and would want to donate it for our use? Just for 2 days, because me and Justin still have to work.
Please please please… I know its short notice… but please email me:
amberlaughing@gmail.com
or email my sister
beautifultamy@gmail.com

Any info at all would be SOOOOOOOO much appreciated! I just want to do something NORMAL for once! Any help at all…. I just could not even tell you how much that would mean to me….. & Tucker’s blood counts on Monday were the highest immune system he has had since we have started!!!
Let us know… thank you all!
Love Amber, Justin, 3 kid-o’s (Jaired, Jaiden & Lily), and a camping (?) hopefully Tucker…